Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Nov 15;595(22):6825-6836.
doi: 10.1113/JP274887. Epub 2017 Oct 31.

Vitamin D deficiency accelerates ageing and age-related diseases: a novel hypothesis

Affiliations
Review

Vitamin D deficiency accelerates ageing and age-related diseases: a novel hypothesis

Michael J Berridge. J Physiol. .

Abstract

Ageing can occur at different rates, but what controls this variable rate is unknown. Here I have developed a hypothesis that vitamin D may act to control the rate of ageing. The basis of this hypothesis emerged from studyng the various cellular processes that control ageing. These processes such as autophagy, mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, oxidative stress, epigenetic changes, DNA disorders and alterations in Ca2+ and reactive oxygen species (ROS) signalling are all known to be regulated by vitamin D. The activity of these processes will be enhanced in individuals that are deficient in vitamin D. Not only will this increase the rate of ageing, but it will also increase the probability of developing age-related diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and cardiovascular disease. In individual with normal vitamin D levels, these ageing-related processes will occur at lower rates resulting in a reduced rate of ageing and enhanced protection against these age-related diseases.

Keywords: DNA disorders; Vitamin D; autophagy; calcium; epigenetics; inflammation; mitochondrial dysfunction; oxidative stress; reactive oxygen species (ROS).

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. The vitamin D hypothesis of ageing
It is proposed that vitamin D acts to regulate ageing by controlling the activity of a number of the ageing processes. Vitamin D promotes the activity of autophagy, which acts to slow down the ageing processes by removing dysfunctional mitochondria. Vitamin D also acts to reduce mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, inflammation, calcium signalling, epigenetics and DNA disorders including telomere shortening, which act to drive the processes of ageing.

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Abbas MA (2016). Physiological functions of Vitamin D in adipose tissue. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 165, 369–381. - PubMed
    1. Alexianu ME, Robbins E, Carswell S & Appel SH (1998). 1α,25‐Dihydroxyvitamin D3‐dependent up‐regulation of calcium‐binding proteins in motoneuron cells. J Neurosci Res 51, 58–66. - PubMed
    1. Alvarez JA, Chowdhury R, Jones DP, Martin GS, Brigham KL, Binongo JN, Ziegler TR & Tangpricha V (2014). Vitamin D status is independently associated with plasma glutathione and cysteine thiol/disulphide redox status in adults. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf) 81, 458–466. - PMC - PubMed
    1. An BS, Tavera‐Mendoza LE, Dimitrov V, Wang X, Calderon MR, Wang HJ & White JH (2010). Stimulation of Sirt1‐regulated FoxO protein function by the ligand‐bound vitamin D receptor. Mol Cell Biol 30, 4890–4900. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Annweiler C, Schott AM, Berrut G, Chauviré V, Le Gall D, Inzitari M & Beauchet O (2010). Vitamin D and ageing: neurological issues. Neuropsychobiology 62, 139–150. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources